Inspirational Quotes: Tithing

“Tithing has been established in these latter days as an essential law for members of the Lord’s restored Church. It is one of the basic ways we witness our faith in Him and our obedience to His laws and commandments. Tithing is one of the commandments that qualifies us, by our faith, to enter the temple—the house of the Lord.” Robert D. Hales, Tithing: A Test of Faith with Eternal Blessings, General Conference October 2002.

“During World War II, my widowed mother supported her three young children on a schoolteacher’s salary that was meager. When I became conscious that we went without some desirable things because we didn’t have enough money, I asked my mother why she paid so much of her salary as tithing. I have never forgotten her explanation: “Dallin, there might be some people who can get along without paying tithing, but we can’t. The Lord has chosen to take your father and leave me to raise you children. I cannot do that without the blessings of the Lord, and I obtain those blessings by paying an honest tithing. When I pay my tithing, I have the Lord’s promise that he will bless us, and we must have those blessings if we are to get along.”Dallin H. Oaks, Tithing, General Conference April 1994

“We should pay [tithes and offerings] as a personal expression of love to a generous and merciful Father in Heaven.” Jeffery R Holland, Like a Watered Garden, General Conference October 2001.

“Consider the law of tithing. The honest payment of tithing provides a person the inner strength and commitment to comply with the other commandments.” Thomas S. Monson, Be Thou an Example, General Conference October 1996.

“We should not wait until the annual tithing settlement to decide to be a full-tithe payer. We can decide now. It takes time to learn to control our spending with faith that what we have comes from God. It takes faith to pay our tithing promptly and without procrastination.” Henry B. Eyring, Spiritual Preparedness: Start Early and Be Steady, October General Conference 2005.

“Brothers and sisters, how can every member enjoy the thrill and the blessing that comes from making a sacrifice to help the work? The answer is very simple, as are most answers in the Church. Every member of the Church can pay a full, honest tithing and can attend tithing settlement. The Lord said, “Verily [now] is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people” (D&C 64:23).” M. Russell Ballard, Sacrifice and Self-Sufficiency, October General Conference 1987.

“The blessing of tithing comes by paying tithing.” Russell M. Nelson, Roots and Branches, April General Conference 2004.

“We know that God keeps His promises. We need to fulfill our part to receive His blessings. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:21).” Dieter F. Uchtdorf, See the End from the Beginning, April General Conference 2006

“Your testimony will be made strong through willing obedience to the law of tithing and by giving fast offerings, and the Lord will bless you richly for it.” Richard G. Scott, The Transforming Power of Faith and Character, October General Conference 2010.

Doctrine usually answers the question “why?” Principles usually answer the question “what?” Whenever we emphasize how to do something without reference to why we do it or what we do, we risk looking beyond the mark. At the very least, we fall into the trap Paul described to the Corinthians: “For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life” Quentin L. Cook, Looking beyond the Marl, Ensign Magazine March, 2003.

Inspirational Quotes: Race and the Church

“Repenting means giving up all of our practices—personal, family, ethnic, and national—that are contrary to the commandments of God.” Dallin H. Oaks, Repentance and Change, General Conference, October 2003.

“Appreciation for ethnic, cultural, or national heritage can be very wholesome and beneficial, but it can also perpetuate patterns of life that should be set aside by a devoted Latter-day Saint.” Richard G. Scott, Removing Barriers of Happiness, General Conference, April 1998.

The Book of Mormon teaches that our Savior “inviteth [all the children of men] to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile” (2 Ne. 26:33; see also Alma 5:49).

“He inviteth them all.” We understand “male and female.” We also understand “black and white,” which means all races.” Dallin H. Oaks, All Men Everywhere, April General Conference, 2003.

 

Inspirational Quotes: Agency

"We know there is a great purpose in Christ’s suffering because this was an act of free agency. Jesus could have called upon legions of angels to bring Him down from the cross, but He did not."
Robert D Hales, Lessons from the Atonement That Help Us to Endure to the End, General Conference, October 1985.

“Agency used righteously allows light to dispel the darkness and enables us to live with joy and happiness.” Robert D. Hales, To Act for Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency, April, 2006.

“We teach that agency is the ability and privilege God gives us to choose and “to act for [ourselves] and not to be acted upon.” Agency is to act with accountability and responsibility for our actions. Our agency is essential to the plan of salvation. With it we are “free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil.” Robert D. Hales, Agency: Essential to the Plan of Life, General Conference, October 2010.

“Those who talk of blind obedience may appear to know many things, but they do not understand the doctrines of the gospel. There is an obedience that comes from a knowledge of the truth that transcends any external form of control. We are not obedient because we are blind, we are obedient because we can see. The best control, I repeat, is self-control.” Boyd K. Packer, Agency and Control, General Conference, April 1983.

“Men and women receive their agency as a gift from God, but their liberty and, in turn, their eternal happiness come from obedience to His laws.” L. Tom Perry, Obedience to Law is Liberty, General Conference, April 2013.

“Moral discipline is the consistent exercise of agency to choose the right because it is right, even when it is hard.” D. Todd Christofferson, Moral Discipline, General Conference, October 2009.

“You may be tired of others trying to run your life—always telling you what to do. After all, you have the right to make your own choices. That is correct. You have that right. It is your agency. The secret to solve problems in your life will be found in understanding and using the eternally beneficial interaction of your agency and His truth.” Richard G. Scott, Healing your Damaged Life, General Conference, October 1992.

“Agency is a divine gift to you. You are free to choose what you will be and what you will do. And you are not without help. Counsel with your parents is a privilege at any age. Prayer provides communication with your Heavenly Father and invites the promptings of personal revelation. And in certain circumstances, consultation with professional advisers and with your local leaders in the Church may be highly advisable, especially when very difficult decisions must be made.” Russell M Nelson, Choices, General Conference, October 1990.

“In the grand division of all of God’s creations, there are things to act and things to be acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:13–14). As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon. To” David A. Bednar, And Nothing Shall Offend Them, General Conference, October 2006.

“Do we have a guide to help us choose the right and avoid dangerous detours? Positioned on the wall of my office, directly opposite my desk, is a lovely print of the Savior, painted by Heinrich Hofmann. I love the painting, which I have had since I was a 22-year-old bishop and which I have taken with me wherever I have been assigned to labor. I have tried to pattern my life after the Master. Whenever I have a difficult decision to make, I have looked at that picture and asked myself, “What would He do?” Then I try to do it. We can never go wrong when we choose to follow the Savior.” Thomas S. Monson, Choose You This Day, General Conference, October 2004.

“Korihor was arguing, as men and women have falsely argued from the beginning of time, that to take counsel from the servants of God is to surrender God-given rights of independence. But the argument is false because it misrepresents reality. When we reject the counsel which comes from God, we do not choose to be independent of outside influence. We choose another influence. We reject the protection of a perfectly loving, all-powerful, all-knowing Father in Heaven, whose whole purpose, as that of His Beloved Son, is to give us eternal life, to give us all that He has, and to bring us home again in families to the arms of His love. In rejecting His counsel, we choose the influence of another power, whose purpose is to make us miserable and whose motive is hatred. We have moral agency as a gift of God. Rather than the right to choose to be free of influence, it is the inalienable right to submit ourselves to whichever of those powers we choose.” Henry B. Erying, Finding Safety in Council, General Conference, April 1997.